Improvement in the arrangement of desks for school-rooms



. X. a A l D] DIE mam my@ QQE D. D D QQ TQUGQQQSQQGQDU QWQ j j. L Y ,m6 V =Z V @u m. QQEDDQQQQQQQQD :u SESS u man mm nza En mum @um D UNITED STATES H. G. EAS'IMAN, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE ARRANGEMENT 0F DESKS FOR SCHOOL-ROOMS.

To LZZ whom, it may concern.-

'Be it known that I, H. G. EASTMAN, of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, State of New York, have invented or discovered a new and useful method of constructing and arranging the offices, desks, forms, tvc., of school ediices for teaching the practical and theoretical operations of trade and commerce 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full description of the same.

The object of myinveution is to teach youths all the various branches of trade and commerce by a thoroughly practical course of training. This Ido by means ofanew method of arranging and systematizin the school, so as to represent stores of various kinds of merchandise, freight and express agencies, im.- porters and exporters warehouses, auctioneers, real-estate agencies, exchange brokers, post-oihces, lines of telegraphing with real instruments, and banks ot' discount and `deposit, Ste., each branch of trade having sample checks to represent the article dealt in, with appropriate bills, forms, receipts, vouchers, &c.,and a school currency issued by the banks, based upon a substantial deposit of real money, redeemable by the student ou closing up his business accounts, so as to make the entire course of training of the student have all the characteristics of a reality, the same as it' pursued in real operations of trade and commerce; and the nature of my invention consists in the new method of arranging and combining the offices, desks, forms, and lines of telegraphing wires for the transmission of business eorreslliondence with a commercial school or college room, so as to enable the pupil while acquiring his commercial education to conduct a substantial and real operation, and thus familiarize him with the management of more extensive business operations after graduating from the school; but, to describe my invention more particularly, I will refer to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, the same letters of reference wherever they occur referring to like parts.

Figure l is a plan view of the commercial college or school room.

Letter A represents a raised floor at the rear of the room, having at each side of it a row of four inclosed ofliees or rooms, of which B, having three desks, is the mercantile Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,082, dated September 6, 1864.

agency, C, having eight desks, is the n'rst national bank D, having six desks, is the railroad and steamship ofce, E, having three desks, the insurance office, F, having three desks, the brokerage and exchange and collection oflice G, having six desks, the express office 5 H, having tive desks, the auction and commission otlce, and I, having three desks, the telegraph otlce,represent ing the terminus ot' the line of telegraph J at Poughkeepsie, New York, the other terminus K being located at the opposite extreme end of the sub-department L of the building or school,representng any foreign point or place of business.

Between the two rows of rooms or oflices on the raised Hoor and at the rear of the room is the general banking otliee, M, having six desks and safes and places of deposit for securities in it.

Letters N N are two desks in front of the banking office M, and between the rows of offices for the preceptors and assistant preceptors, who are thus conspicuously before the whole class, to be referredto by the pupils in all matters relating to the customs and practices of trade and commerce. Approachingjg the raised floor is a series of steps, 0, which start from a lower raised platform, P,

, on which, at each side ot' the steps, are two desks, Q Q, for the officers of the school. 0n each side of the lower raised platform is the custom-house R and the dry-goods emporium77 S. In front of these offices and extending down the sub-department toward the entrance ot' the school are a series ot' desks, T, arranged in parallel rows, as desks for students operating as retail merchants. At the sides of these desks are streets U, V, W, and X, designated as Commercial street,77 Stevens avenue,77 Eastmans avenue,77 and Washington street, for the purpose of facilitating the business operations ofthe student in occupying these stores or desks. Down the middle ot the room is a Broadway, Y, on each side of which is a row of stores or desks, Z Z2, which are occupied by students operating a s forwarding and commission merchants and importers and jobbers of goods.77 In front of the ends of these desks is the exchange A2, and at the right-hand side of the school, in front of the desks for the retail traders, is the post-office B2, and C2 is the. passage-Way leading from the doorway to the entrance ot' the school.

It will be obvious from this arrangement of the school that my system of teaching a practical as Well as a theoretical commercial education is not only consistent with the laws of trade, but at the same time stimulating in the highest degree the pride and ambition of the pupil to acquire a perfect knowledge of all the Various branches ot' trade. By this means the latent talent of the pupil is developed, and he is thereby enabled When he graduates from the college to select that branch of trade most congenial to his taste and in which he will be most likely to bc useful to himself and his employers. 

